Delegates focused on discussing the economic, trade and investment situation in the four countries; the progress of implementing the CLMV Action Plan for the 2021-2022 period.

Senior economic officials from the four countries (SEOM CLMV) were assigned to actively coordinate and collect proposals related cooperation projects from relevant ministries, sectors and agencies, and send them to the ASEAN Secretariat for inclusion in the action plan.

In his remarks, Minister Dien, who is also head of the Vietnamese delegation to AEM-54, applauded the addition of digital economy as a cooperation field to the action plan, saying that this is a new development trend of the region and the world that attracts the interest of many countries.

The digital economy will help businesses in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam - especially small and medium-sized enterprises, shift to new business models, reduce costs, improve business efficiency, and increase access to customers and markets, he said.

The Vietnamese delegation also announced that Vietnam will continue to support booths of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar at a number of major international fairs and exhibitions organized by Vietnam; and maintain its scholarship programmes for students from these countries.

Vietnam also suggested the four countries strengthen cooperation, facilitate trade connections, and remove obstacles and barriers in order to further improve trade exchanges.

It also underlined the need for the countries to support each other in effectively implement free trade agreements (FTAs) to which they are members, contributing to realising benefits brought by FTAs; strengthening regional supply chains and assisting the business community.

Another key discussion of the meeting was the adoption of an action plan for implementing the CLMV Development Framework.

After more than two years of active work, the countries have agreed on the content of the document, especially the action plan with over 150 cooperation activities that will be implemented from 2023 to 2030 to develop important areas and promote cooperation between the four countries in pillars, towards facilitating investment, customs, and trade cooperation, financial system development, human resources, agriculture and tourism.

Participants agreed to assign SEOM CLMV to coordinate with relevant agencies, ministries and sectors of each country to soon implement cooperation activities and projects in the action plan, contributing to realising the goal of developing the four countries into upper middle income countries by 2030, and make the group a progressive business centre in the region and in the world.

The ASEAN Secretariat’s representatives stressed that the four countries need to continue to cooperate with each other to implement cooperation projects in the coming time; support businesses in digital transformation and hi-tech application in industrial production; encourage the participation of the private sector; and ensure that supply and value chains in the region are not interrupted.

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien thanked Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, and the ASEAN Secretariat for actively supporting and cooperating closely with Vietnam, helping the country fulfil its role as the chair of the CLMV economic cooperation mechanism in 2022.

He also congratulated Cambodia on hosting the CLMV economic cooperation mechanism in 2023, expressing his belief that Cambodia will successfully take on this role.

Initiated by Vietnam in 2010, CLMV-EMM mechanism aims to further strengthen economic and trade relations among CLMV countries; coordinate more closely in activities of sub-regional, regional and international forums; narrow the development gap between the four countries and other ASEAN member nations; and speed up the implementation of agreements reached at CLMV summits.